Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

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Scholar examines the forces and people that helped start Civil War
On the evening of April 11, 1861, secessionist Edmund Ruffin was so anxious for war that he took off only his coat and his shoes when he went to bed: He did not want to be delayed if the summons to battle came in the night. Around 4:30 the next morning, his foresight paid off, and he was at a turning point of history. He had taken up a position in Charleston Harbor, and in the opening moments of the Civil War it fell to him to fire a 64-pound Columbian cannon on Fort Sumter. As his cannonball struck the federal fort, William W. Freehling writes in his book Secessionists Triumphant 1854-1861: "an awful war had begun."
by washingtonpost :: 2007-07-01 :: Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

Missouri: A new way to look at the start of the Civil War
Fort Sumter wasn't first - so they say in Missouri when folks talk about the Civil War. Missouri historians are holding on to the notion that trouble was brewing, and maybe firing full force by 1854, when frontier settlers from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains but didn't see eye-to-eye with neighbors sent by the New England Emigrant Aid Society to abolish slavery while settling the west. Volunteers and staff in all the historic sites I visited care about this story of the warring before the War. Finding your way is a bit of a puzzle best figured out with a good map.
by mineralwellsindex :: 2007-06-20 :: Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

Fort Barrancas - The first shots fired on Union forces in the Civil War
The shot heard 'round the world may have occurred in Fort Sumter, N.C. on April 14, 1861 to launch the Civil War but historians say there was fighting at Fort Pickens before that. In "Barrancas: The First Shots Fired in the Rebellion," Walter Giersbach writes that on Jan 8, 1861, US Army guards repelled a group of men intending to take Fort Barrancas in Pensacola Harbor. Historians say that this could be the first shots fired on Union forces in the Civil War. To mark the event, a local regiment of confederate reenactors brought muskets and fired powder to onlookers at the Cabana Club.
by gulfbreezenews :: 2007-02-02 :: Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

The Turbulent Days Between Fort Sumter and Bull Run
Historian highlights events at start of Civil War in book "Dissonance: The Turbulent Days Between Fort Sumter and Bull Run." The site for the capital of the U.S. was chosen, in part, because it was indefensible. It was a grand gesture that could have proved fatal to the Union in the days after South Carolina's attack on Fort Sumter April 12, 1861. Robert E. Lee, commander of Virginia forces, could have brought cannon to the high ground at Arlington and shelled Washington. Alternately, he or another hot-blooded Confederate officer, might have brought troops across the "Long Bridge" and occupied the city.
by post-gazette :: 2006-08-19 :: Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

The first major battle of the Civil War
Article no longer available from the original source.
Fought in 1861 near Manassas, Va., the first Battle of Bull Run (or Battle of Manassas, depending on whether you are a Northerner or Southerner) pitted Union troops under the command of Irvin McDowell against Confederate troops under General Pierre Beauregard. For the Union North, the objective was to capture the Confederate South's capital city, Richmond, which McDowell thought ould deal the South a mortal blow. Beauregard's task was to stop the Union Army; he chose Bull Run as the place. Until Ulysses S. Grant, no Union general understood the way to win the war was not to capture Confederate cities but to defeat Confederate armies.
by oregonlive :: 2006-07-17 :: Battles and Battlefields - American Civil War

Mixed reponse: burial of some of the first Civil War soldiers to die
They were lost to history, 6 Union soldiers killed in battle just days before the famous First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. Found in shallow graves in woods in Centreville, the men's remains were traced to the First Massachusetts Infantry, after a decade of research. They will be buried at the National Veterans Cemetery with an honor guard and a three-volley salute with Civil War-era rifles. But Dalton Rector says the soldiers are being wronged. He thinks he knows their names, and he argues they deserve better than to be buried in graves as unknowns.
by boston :: 2006-06-09 :: Wartime Soldiers - American Civil War

Senate approves Black Jack resolution - The first battle of war
The Kansas Senate today approved a resolution commemorating the 1856 Battle of Black Jack near Baldwin. The resolution recognizes that the battle was the first of the Civil War not only in Kansas but also of the war. It also refers to the commemoration and events planned for the 150th anniversary of the battle on June 2-3.
by ljworld :: 2006-05-04 :: Battle of Black Jack - The First Battle of Civil War

150th Anniversary of Bleeding Kansas to be Commemorated
During the time of "Bleeding Kansas," the nation watched as violence erupted. On August 30, 1856, free state and proslavery men clashed in what became known as the Battle of Osawatomie. Much of the community was burned during the battle. The 150th anniversary of the battle will be commemorated on the original battleground in an event at John Brown Memorial Park. Doctor Joyce Thierer will present "Fighting Beside My Brother," the story of a woman who lived through "Bleeding Kansas" as a young girl and who fought beside her brother during the Civil War. This first person narrative reenactment tells the story of six hundred documented cases of women who fought in the Civil War.
by infozine :: 2006-04-24 :: Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

The first casualties of the Civil War
On April 19, 1861, four members of the Massachusetts Sixth Regiment died in Baltimore, the first casualties of the Civil War. Baltimore secessionists attacked the soldiers as they passed through the city on their way to Washington to defend the capital. "During the Civil War, people attributed a mythic significance to that date," said historian Richard Howe. "When Fort Sumter was fired on, [April 12, 1861] Lincoln called for troops to come down and protect Washington, and the first regiment to answer the call was the Sixth," said Martha Mayo at the Center for Lowell History.
by townonline :: 2006-04-22 :: Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

Finding Minnesota: A Civil War Squabble
When our country's Civil War began in 1861, the relatively new state of Minnesota was the first to offer troops to the Union effort. When that first shot was fired at Fort Sumter, Minnesota Gov. Alexander Ramsey was in Washington, D.C. on business. Ramsey immediately offered Abraham Lincoln 1,000 men and sent a telegraph to his friend Willis Gorman back in St. Paul. However, Gorman was involved in a court case in Anoka, Minn. at the time, which is about 17 miles upriver.
by wcco :: 2006-04-09 :: Beginning - First shots - American Civil War

American Civil War in the News is a edited review of American Civil War related news and articles, providing collection of hand-picked 1861-1865 era history.